Application Models And Case Studies Of 3D Virtual World Second Life In Higher Education

With the development of information technology, more and more innovative media tools increasingly come into the domain of education. In these tools, because of its creativeness, interactiveness, immersiveness, situatedness and diversity,3D virtual worlds are gaining the educators' attentions. Educators realize that they have great potential in higher education and immediately use them in all sorts of activities. As one of the most famous 3D virtual worlds, Second Life is popular with lots of colleges and universities. Many institutions not only carry out teaching, learning and researching in Second Life, also provide more convenient services by it. This paper summarizes Second Life's five application models in higher education, proposes several strategies based on analysis of three case studies, and discusses the possibility and obstacles of virtual world in Chinese higher education.This paper has six chapters in total. Chapter 1 is the introduction, including the research background, current status, content, methods, objectives, significance and the definitions of virtual world and Second Life. Chapter 2 describes the history, features, application range and potential in education of Second Life. Chapter 3 summarizes Second Life's five application models in higher education. Chapter 4 introduces the case studies of Ohio University, the Open University and Yantai University. Chapter 5 reflects the uses of Second life in education, proposes several strategies of applying 3D virtual worlds into higher education, and discusses the possibility of 3D virtual worlds in Chinese higher education. Chapter 6 is the summary and outlook.